Noor Inayat Khan[spoiler]
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Assistant section officer in the Women's Royal Auxiliary Air Force and agent of Britain's Special Operations Executive in WWII, one of only four women in history to have earned a
George Cross. What really inspires me with her is that she was meek, shy, and a little unworldly, and yet when it came down to it she was incredibly brave and refused to give up, even when she was the last special forces radio operator left in France. In fact when the SS eventually did arrest her, she fought so fiercely that they were deeply afraid of her, keeping her restrained most times as a "precaution" for their own safety. She remained uncooperative , tried to escape twice, but was eventually executed at Dachau Concentration Camp after having consistently resisted the Nazi's demands for information. Her last words were reportedly "Liberte!" before being shot by an SS Officer. What she's taught me, is that you don't have to be a stereotypical action man to be a hero, you simply need to believe enough in your ideals to push yourself further.
Tony Benn (Warning; contains politics!)[spoiler]
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British Politician, veteran of WWII, longtime symbol of Left Wing politics, and probably the only person in recent political history to become
more left wing after leaving office. One of the great things about Tony Benn is that he's challenged privilege from the start, being the first person in history to resign a peerage, i.e. giving up his title and power inherited from his father. Since then he's always stood by his beliefs and hasn't compromised them. On the left, there's a tendency to look back on history as a series of great mistakes, but Benn I think reminds us that history is actually one of victories against the odds, and by looking back, and learning from that we know the way forward, and can win the next fight.
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Topic: Heroes, Idols and Inspiration (Read 1366 times)